Friday December 4th marked another milestone in Blu-ray’s short history. On this day, it became a requirement for anyone releasing titles on Blu-ray to offer consumers a back-up copy.

Announced on June 5th, as part of the final AACS agreement, were details of how Mandatory Managed Copy would be implemented. Note that this system should not be confused with the current trend of “Digital Copies” or “Triple Play”, whereby a Blu-ray is released with a companion DVD or Digital Copy in the same packaging.

With Managed Copy, the Blu-ray Movie you buy will be able to contact an Authorisation Server on the Internet, which will determine

• What kind of copy you can make (from 1:1 Blu-ray to DRM protected Windows Media File – currently no iTunes option)

• How many copies you can make.

• What resolution that copy will be – HD or SD.

Which is all great news except that there are no current players on the market which support this system. No, not even the Playstation 3. For users to take advantage of Managed Copy will require them to purchase a new Blu-ray player, none of which currently on the market offer this option.

There also still appears to be confusion within the production industry regarding the requirements and implementation. ScenaristBD, considered “the standard” for Blu-ray production supports the ‘hooks’ for Managed Copy, but as to when the authentication servers will become available and the process of recieving the required information from, one assumes, from the AACS-LA, that remains to be seen. Certainly, there appears to be no suggestion that replicators will reject BD masters not containing Managed Copy data anytime soon, and this confusion could well explain why promotion of this feature has been low, and will remain low into Q1 2010.

Further Reading

Wikipedia – AACS defined

engadgetHD – Blu-ray gets managed copy next year needs new hardware

ars technica.com – Blu-ray discs get managed copy

engadgetHD – Blu-ray managed copy-  demo video

iPhone users are among the heaviest users of digital content and are also more willing than any other consumer to pay for a wide range of types of content, according to findings in this year’s Olswang Convergence Survey, just published.

iPhone users are heavy users of services such as on-demand TV – not only on their phones (19% of iPhone users compared to 3% of the survey base, which is representative of users of the UK online population as a whole) but also on other devices, such as the main TV at home (37% of iPhone users compared to 26% of the survey base).

When asked about their future desire to use these services, 37% of iPhone users want to access on-demand TV via their mobile phones in the future (as against 11% of the overall survey base).

iPhone users also demonstrated greater willingness to use micropayments and subscriptions to pay for access to a broad range of content.

There was a willingness among those surveyed to pay for a wide range of content online. The good news for movie studios and producers is that the survey found that films represent the content for which consumers are most willing to make micropayments, with 58% of those adults surveyed saying they would pay, to access online, a film just released in cinemas, 52% saying they’d pay for to access a film which won’t be on DVD for at least two months and 40% saying they would pay to access a film which is already on DVD or pay-TV. Among iPhone users, these figures leap up to 73%, 67% and 54% respectively.

Consumers are also surprisingly willing to pay for some content which they currently get for free, such as catch-up of the last seven days of TV – which 30% of the online population as a whole and 41% of iPhone users were willing to make micropayments or set up a subscription to pay for.

However, the news was much less positive for newspapers, with only 19% of adult respondents (and only 30% of iPhone users) indicating any willingness to make micropayments or take out subscriptions for newspaper articles or columns.

John Enser, Partner, Olswang said: “The digital ecology has a complex mix of free, ad-supported and paid-for content. As people look to access social media and consume music, films and TV shows on an increasing range of devices, it appears that they can be taught to pay, just so long as it is easy and painless and that they value what they receive in return. However, newspaper owners have an uphill struggle to convince consumers to pay.”

The survey was conducted by Olswang, one of the UK’s leading law firms, and YouGov who carried out an online poll of 1,013 UK adults and 536 13-17 year olds. Olswang also spoke to more than 25 executives from leading businesses which are affected by convergence.

Source DVD intelligence – reproduced with permission

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country’s converged regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, is kicking off the 3D television drive, with the goal of having television stations beam terrestrial 3D broadcasts sometime next year.

The KCC will issue a license in January to start the trial services for land-based 3D broadcasting, which is to be delivered in full high-definition (HD) quality. “Japan and Britain were first to test 3D television broadcasting through satellite networks, beaming programs for about an hour per day. However, we want to take it a step further, being the world’s first country to provide 3D television with HD picture quality through terrestrial networks,” said a KCC official quoted by The Korea Times.

After te licensing of a 3D television broadcaster in January, preparations are expected to start in February, with 3D trial services beginning sometime between then and the second half of next year.

But it looks like pay-television channels will beat the national networks on the 3D timetable. Cable television heavyweight, CJ HelloVision, and mobile television operator, TU Media, are both planning to begin trial 3D television services by the end of the year.

CJ HelloVision said it would be able to introduce 3D content on its video-on-demand (VOD) offerings within a week or two. The 3D broadcasts for real-time, regular programs are planned for next year, company officials said.

Cable television operators have been working with the state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and other technology institutes to develop 3D television solutions

TU Media, the mobile television unit of SK Telecom, the country’s biggest mobile telephony operator, is planning to release a handset by the end of the year capable of supporting 3D video both from its own satellite pay-television services and the free, terrestrial mobile television services

“It remains to be seen whether 3D television will become a standard for consumer entertainment, or fizzle out as 3D movies did decades ago. If the industry finds a way to lower the prices for the required devices and also acquire more content, 3D television will have a chance to acquire staying power,” said Kim Jin-woong, a researcher from ETRI.

Source DVD Intelligence – reproduced with permission